One-quarter of all states have implemented significantly tougher graduation requirements, and virtually every state has taken steps to ratchet up expectations for high school students, according to a national survey of high school reform efforts conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Achieve, Inc.

The survey updates the efforts of all 50 states to align their high school standards, graduation requirements, assessments, and accountability systems with the demands of college and work, and finds that at least 48 states are now actively engaged in reform efforts of some kind. There is more momentum in the states now than at any time since education reform became a national priority with the release of A Nation at Risk in 1983.

Some of the most dramatic progress has been made in the area of graduation requirements, where 13 states, up from just two in 2004, now require high school students to complete a college- and work-ready curriculum in order to earn a diploma.

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